Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070; Caldwell 103)
The Tarantula Nebula (also known as NGC 2070, Caldwell 103, and 30 Doradus, Tarantula Nebula) is a diffuse nebula (cloud of glowing hydrogen gas known as an H II region) containing the open cluster NGC 2070 in the constellation Doradus. The nebula and star cluster are actually located in the Large Magellanic Cloud at a distance of around 163,000 light-years. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 8 and its angular diameter is 40 x 25 arc-minutes. The Tarantula Nebula lies at an estimated distance of 163,000 light-years (+/- 10,000 light-years) and is 120 light years in diameter.
The Tarantula Nebula is absolutely enormous with estimated diameter around 600 to 1,700 light-years. If it were closer, say 1,500 light-years distant like the Orion Nebula, it would fill half the sky and cast shadows.
The Equinox 2000 coordinates are 05h 39m, -69° 06´ which makes NGC 2070 a Southern Hemisphere object that is best seen during the autumn. The Caldwell Winter Star Chart shows the position of all Caldwell objects visible during that season. Visit the Caldwell Catalog Photo Gallery to see more objects from this catalog. As one of the more famous objects in the Caldwell Catalog, it is commonly known as the 30 Doradus.
Visit NGC2070 to see this region with the same telescope in color (LRGB).
Technical Details
- Object: Tarantula Nebula (in H-Alpha)
- Other Names: NGC 2070, Caldwell 103; 30 Doradus
- Object Type: Diffuse nebula and star cluster
- Object Data: Apparent Magnitude = 8, Angular Size = 40 x 25 arc-minutes
- Object Position (Equinox 2000): RA= 05h 39m, Dec= -69° 06´, Constellation Doradus>
- Date: 2021 Jan 01 - Jan 08 (8 nights)
- Location: Chile Remote Observatory, Observatorio El Sauce, Chile
- Partnership: Operated in partnership with David Churchill
- Telescope: Planewave CDK-17 (with Focal Reducer: f/4.5; FL = 1945mm)
- Camera: QHY 16200A with Integral 7-position Filter Wheel
- Mount: Astro-Physics 1600GTO
- Guider: Agena Starguide II / SBIG STi
- Sub-Exposures: Astronomik Filters
- Luminance: 118 x 5 min = 590 min
- Red: 48 x 5 min = 240 min
- Green: 48 x 5 min = 240 min
- Blue: 48 x 5 min = 240 min - Total Exposure: 21h 50m
- File Name: NGC2070-CDK21-C02w.jpg
- Field of View: 38.9' x 58.3' at 0.64 arc-sec/pixel
- Original Image Size: 3630 x 4540 pixels (16.5 MP); 12.1" x 15.1" @ 300 dpi
- Data Acquisition: David Churchill
- Image Processing: Fred Espenak
- Maxim DL: Image Calibration, Stacking, Digital Development Processing
- Adobe Camera Raw: Noise Reduction
- Photoshop CC: Curves, Levels - Copyright: Fred Espenak